In this art tutorial you will learn how to make your own unique Photoshop brushes. All you need is a fairly recent version of Photoshop and you are set to go. This tutorial is aimed at beginner Photoshoppers but everyone else is welcome to join in as well.

Making Your First Basic Brush

First create a new 500 x 500 pixel document with a white background. The DPI setting is irrelevant for the purpose of this lesson so just leave it where it is. Next create a new layer from the layers palette and select it. Name the layer "My First Brush", or whatever you wish. Now select the brush tool from the tools palette and set the foreground color to black. Selecting the brush tool should reveal a palette with all sorts of different brushes. If you can't see them go to the top menu and select: Window -> Brushes making sure that Brushes ticked. Now you should be rolling.

Next select the Hard Round 5 from the brushes palette and start making dots various places as shown in step 1 below. Next make the brush size a bit smaller and start making more dots amongst those you have just made. The result should be something like that shown in step 2. Finally increase the brush size and make a few large dots here and there until you end up with something like that shown in step 3. Now for the fun part. Select the Magic Wand and click somewhere in the white area to select all the dots you have made. Next you need to inverse your selection. Go to Select -> Inverse in the top menu or use the hotkeys. With your dots selected go to Edit -> Define Brush Preset in the menu and give your new brush a name. Click Ok, and presto! You now have your brush amongst the other brushes in the brushes palette.

How Your New Brush Works

Your new brush works like any other brush in Photoshop. You can resize it like you want and choose any color for it you wish. Basically a brush just a bitmap image you can scale, color and paint with.

Endless Possibilities

Don't worry if your newly made brush doesn't look the greatest (mine for this tutorial certainly did not). You can make pretty much any type of brush you can think of. Sharp ones, flat ones, round and triangular, spatter brushes and so on. And your bristles don't have to be made of small dots, they can be any shape you desire. You can also make pen brushes, brushes to resemble charcoal, water colors, acrylics etcetera. And once you have the basics nailed you can add all sorts of effects to them in the brushes panel.

All Things Good Must...

Before I end this brush making tutorial I just want to remind you (once you get some really cool brushes made) to save your hard work as you go along. Save both the document from which you made your brush, and the particular brushes you make. The document is saved just like any other document made in Photoshop. To save the brushes themselves click the small dropdown icon in the top-right of the brushes palette and choose Save Brushes.

Wait, there's more!

That's basically how to make Photoshop brushes and once you are ready for more remember to click the Expanded View in the brushes palette drop-down from where you can add all sorts of cool effects to your brushes. And with that the time has come to end this art tutorial. Good luck and thanks for reading.